In my last essay as I recall I set myself the monumental task of defining Art's vocabulary and in doing so also defining what makes Art work. To do this we must consider the ELEMENTS OF DESIGN and the RULES OF COMPOSITION. These are quite simply the tools artists' minds have to work with while their hands manipulate the tools we more often think of , brushes, pens, chisels, instruments. By way of introducing the ELEMENTS OF DESIGN I suppose I should just name them. They are:

UNITY
HUE
VALUE
TEXTURE
FORM
RHYTHM
FOCAL POINT
LINE
EDGE
CONTRAST

I hope I didn't forget anyone.

The rules of composition vary from culture to culture, though it seems everyone works with the elements listed above. In Western Art [ no not Art of the American West] the rules vary from Eastern Art, duh, for instance. For these discussions we shall be referring almost always to composition in Western Art. It seems in some vague and general way that the rules of composition are almost infinite in number. However, there are some biggies that one should be aware of. Keep in mind that the reason these rules exist is for the purpose of keeping the eye in painting, the ear in music and poetry, and the mind in all forms of Art moving through the piece, captured and directed by the composition. Paintings are read from left to right. A good composition has a strong introduction leading the eye into the painting from the left (when speaking of the sides of a painting, right and left refer to that of the viewer). This often occurs with an accented horizon line in landscapes. I'll choose this as the first rule of composition I will introduce. Look at your pieces and see what kind of introduction they have.

It would be good to introduce one of the above listed elements in this essay I suppose. So, let's consider UNITY. Ha, yes let's consider unity. Perhaps the most or least easily defined of these concepts. Simply stated it means that the entire piece must look like one expression rather than diverse, unrelated thoughts and techniques. In painting this involves use of all the other elements listed below UNITY in the above list, in concert, to form a composition that involves the eye without confusing it.

So, in case you have not been exposed to them before, this introduces you to one RULE OF COMPOSITION involving introductions and one ELEMENT OF DESIGN, UNITY. As far as the rest goes, there is much to write, there is much to know.

Steve B. Lance